Failure
by EvaH2Os
Summary: After a failed suicide attempt, House is forced to babysit Thirteen. House/13
1. Chapter 1

I know I have two unfinished House fics up already, but I was feeling a bit dark so I had to get this out of my system.

Its almost completely written so I'll update pretty fast if you guys like it, and depending on if I decide to make it longer than it currently is.

Darkfic. House/13. Enjoy. Let me know what you think. It gets a little lighter after this.

-E

XXXXXXXXX

Your hand is shaking. You will it to stop, but it wont. This is because you're dying, but not because of the Huntington's chorea. You're scared. Air is trying to force itself from your lungs and burst through your sealed lips, but you wont let it. You push back the scream with all your might as you throw caution to the wind and shove the needle into your arm.

Now your whole body is shaking, but of course it is. That's what happens when you seize. You also feel your toes tingle, your jaw snapping shut, and a warm sensation between your legs that you hope dries before anyone finds you. On second thought, you could care less because you'll be dead.

You feel your eyes role into the back of your head, and you're plunged into the depths of your own humanity. You're eyes are so heavy that you cant even try to blink or open them, so you will them to never open again.

Darkness and light, there's nothing, and yet you feel everything. You wonder how you feel so numb, yet so alive, ironically just moments before you know you're going to die.

But then your eyes open. Your mouth opens, your ears open, your brain opens – you're alive. How did this happen? Your mouth is dry and it hurts to swallow. Your eardrums pound as the beeping of monitors causes sensory overload.

The room is too bright to see anything, but you know this isn't 'the light' you're seeing. This is your life, this is your hospital, this is your failure.

"You're alive," says a gruff voice. No compassion, no sadness, no disappointment. You search the voice for an inkling of emotion, you search everything for emotion, but like your life it's void of any real substance. It's a statement, not an epiphany or a praise or even a scolding.

"I'm dying." You choke out from your dry mouth. The sound of your own voice surprises yourself for a moment. You sound dead. You should be dead.

"Well, we've slowed it down. Your looking at eight more years rather than eight more seconds," The voice answers. You hear something that time. It takes you a moment to realize what it is, it always seems to take you a while to connect to feelings, but hen it finally hits you it's no big surprise. It's curiosity. He is House after all.

You want to reply, and for a moment, right after you open your mouth, you feel like you're connecting. You care enough to say something back, but then it's gone. Nothing you say changes anything. You shut your mouth.

He hands you a plastic cup of water that you can barely make out through your blurry vision. You take it your lips find the straw.

For a moment your mouth is in paradise. It's waking up, its alive.

"Thanks," You respond. Your voice still doesn't sound right, but you doubt that anything will be right for quite a while.

You sit up. You're abdomen is screaming at you. Your eyes threaten to tear. You have no clue why you're so sore. You feel like a bus has hit you, and you wish it had. Maybe then you wouldn't be sitting here.

Your vision slowly clears, and you see him still sitting there. He's judging you, and you really don't care. You're judging you, you're always judging. You remember being thirteen at your first school dance, the way John Kramer looked at you, you thought you looked good. He clearly disagreed. That was when you started judging yourself. Before the next dance you stared at yourself in the mirror for hours. Would John notice the small breasts you'd worked for hours with just the right amount of toilet paper to create, would Claire Cress think you were copying her with your jewel-toned dress? Would your father think you were precocious or cute with the bit of eye shadow you'd used? You'd stared until every scenario had crossed your mind and you'd figured out a way to solve each and every problem. You judged every fiber of your being until you knew you were perfect.

Now, fourteen years later you forgot to make any decisions for yourself. You were dying and there was no fairytale wedding with John Kramer, Claire Cress wasn't your best friend anymore, and there was no perfect smile matching everything you wore.

Now, your oversized hospital gown makes you look sick. But you are sick, in more than one way, and you know it.

"It's time to get to work." He says startling you out of your silent ramblings.

"Can I go?" You ask almost hopefully. But then you realize you feel a lot less alone here than you do at home.

"Of course," He laughs. You're hit with a wave of jealously. What you'd give to find humor in a situation again could sustain a country for a year.

"Your forty-eight hour suicide watch ends at nine pm tomorrow. So, you're by my side till then, and I need to be in my office." He un does the padded restraints, and your legs are free to stretch.

"You can walk." He says annoyed.

"Do you really not care than I just tried to kill myself?" You ask.

"Nope." He shakes his head, but you can tell that a little piece of him is lying. Granted, it might just be the piece that wants to know why because you both know it's more than just your grisly future. If it was because of your disease you'd wait till you were seeing symptoms to do it, and for now your body was chorea free.

"Can I have my clothes back?" You ask fully aware that this gown doesn't cover your ass.

"Nope, they're in the laundry down stairs, but I guess we can find you some scrubs." He grumbles. You hold the back of your gown shut as you follow him to the supply closet. He tosses you a pair of pink scrubs that you know you'll feel wrong wearing.

You head to the bathroom to put them on, and to your surprise he follows you in.

"Seriously?" You ask.

"I'll turn around." He says trying to be decent. You shake your head at the back of his head as you pull on the scrubs as quickly as you can. You don't put it past him to turn around suddenly.

"Let's go." You say once you're dressed. You glance at yourself in the mirror before you leave. Just long enough to see your reflection, if you look to long you'll judge.

You look like Allison Cameron, well sans the blonde hair and smiles and plus about four inches and seventeen years of self-hatred.

The pink is just wrong, and you see House smile at the irony.

"Our patient is a forty five year old Jane Doe. Found in a parking structure, raped and left to die from a stab to the abdomen. Then she had a stroke." House fills you in.

"Is she on the pill?" You ask as he pushes open the door of the diagnostics office.

"Nope," Forman answers. He's giving you an odd look, but you can tell he doesn't know. Taub doesn't either by the way he studies the file without looking up at you.

"I found our only homochromosomal doctor helping Cameron in the ER. She's even dressing like her. I think someone's been watching Single White Female." House jokes.

"It's been replaying every night on the Lifetime Channel." You deadpan. Forman gives you an odd look. He's surprised he didn't know that you liked Lifetime, you actually don't, but you don't fill him in. If he didn't take the time to really get to know you while you were dating then he doesn't deserve to get to know you now. Besides, if Kutner's suicide drove you apart those two short months ago, you don't know how he'd react to your failed attempt.


	2. Chapter 2

The chair is hurting your back, your stomach is about five minutes from beginning to growl, and you have to pee. You're suddenly becoming painfully aware of your body. As if it was over exerting itself from being shut off for a few blissful seconds.

"Can we go to the cafeteria?" You ask House. Foreman is off running slides, Taub is searching the patient's car in the parking lot, and they both think you've been sent to research.

"I could go for a Reuben." House nods, and you wonder how he hasn't eaten since being stuck with you six long hours ago. Does he really have that much control? Then again, he did make you stand in the men's room and shut your eyes about an hour ago when he had to pee, so he is human.

You don't say anything, but you stand up and head for the elevator while rubbing your back. House holds an open palm out to you and you see a small white pill in his hand. You shake your head. You like finally being able to feel something, even if it is pain.

"You'll want it later." He sing songs as you step out of the elevator and make your way to the cafeteria which seams so much nicer than it ever has before. Maybe you've just never been this hungry.

You get in line and he pays for your water, yogurt, and pretzels. You wonder what brought this out of character moment on. He clearly doesn't feel bad for you. Maybe he feels some sort of sense of obligation? He did after all agree to be your suicide watch. Maybe Cuddy made him do it.

You decide to ask.

"Nope," Is all he says. So Cuddy didn't make him do it. That really answers none of your questions. You finish off your yogurt in record time, and decide to ask why he's the one watching you and not some medical intern.

"Because according to our paperwork, which I may have conveniently misfiled, you were poisoned." He says.

"Why?" you ask him wondering if he's trying to do something nice for, well, you have no clue who for. You doubt it's your father, but he would benefit. He would get the two hundred thousand dollars from the life insurance you took out against yourself a few years ago when you were in a serious relationship in New York during your first year residency and your period was late by thirteen days.

"Mental instability means you can't practice." He answers. So, he's doing this for himself?

"Then why bother with the babysitting?" You ask as your bladder shouts at you not to drink the water that your mouth is craving.

"Because when Cuddy finds out I lied, she'll have one less thing to yell at me about." House says finishing off his sandwich. You give him an odd look before picking up your uneaten pretzels and half full water bottle and heading back towards the diagnostics office. You know Taub is probably almost done with his car search and you don't want him to question why you and House are attached at the hip today.

"You're walking funny." House says stopping as you walk off the elevator. He steps out behind you and gets his House look on for a moment.

"I have to pee." You save him the two minutes it would probably take for him to figure you out.

"Oh," He says," Well, that was anticlimactic." With a frown he leads the way to the women's restroom, and you thank god he doesn't protest when you shut the door of the stall you chose. You're painfully aware that its just you two in there and he's listening to you pee. You suppose it could be worse as you finish and go wash your hands.

Finally getting back into the diagnostics office, you see Forman sitting at the table with a smirk. Taub's still gone.

"I take it you've figured something out." House says with a scowl. Foreman names the women's infection and volunteers to start the treatment if you inform the patient. You thank god he's too happy with himself to notice that you and House walked in together.

House pages Taub back to diagnostics before following you into the patient's room. You take your first look at the women and tell her she'll be okay, you see her eyes search yours for confirmation because she's just been raped. She may be alive, but in truth she wont be okay for quite a while. You don't inform her of this before you and House leave. Forman passes you with a bag of targeted antibiotics as you exit. He doesn't even notice you, and you really don't care.

"Can I go home?" You ask House as you drop your 'I'm packing up' act once Foreman and Taub have left the office.

"I make you come with me to pee, but now that the work day is over I'm just going to let you go to the exact place where you tried to kill yourself less than a day ago." House mocks. You deserve it.

"I need-" You try to say, but his frown stops you.

"Your special pillow, your favorite bedtime snack, your tampons?" he mocks, and you wonder why he's suddenly being a jerk. He pops a pill, and you realize its because he's in pain, and he'll be a lot nicer in about fifteen minutes. It's funny how different people handle their pain.

"My clothes, my birth control pills, a shower." You say realizing that you're only slightly less predictable than he thought and that he doesn't know your menstrual cycle. You know he knows Cuddy's and he's hinted at Cameron and a few nurse's. But you don't know if that makes you happy or a bit jealous. It takes being watched pretty closely to figure that out, and you almost wish someone was close enough to you to be able to know things that intimate. You remember when your first boyfriend told you that you only curl your toes when your mad or when you're turned on, and that time when Forman once commented on how you drool in your sleep and your heart melted just a little bit, but that was all back when you were in touch with your heart.

"Birth control," he comments, "while at least you're planning for the future."

"Then again, it's not that important." You shrug. He shakes his head.

"No, we can spend the night at your place." He says and for a moment you feel a bit of intimacy. You tell yourself that's bound to happen after spending so much time with one person, your body is probably drowning in his pheromones by now.


	3. Chapter 3

I know second person is weird, but I was in the mood for something different. It's kind of fun to write this way.

And for the birth control pills question, in my head she still occasionally sleeps around, also for a lot of people once they start them they don't just take themselves off of it.

Thanks for the encouragement.

-E

XXXXXXXX

Your shower is both the most pleasant and shameful experience of your day. You're wearing a bathing suit because he's sitting on your countertop reading an old issue of Cosmopolitan he found between making sure you haven't slit your own wrists every other minute.

You tell him you're not going to try to kill yourself again, but he doesn't believe you. You hardly believe yourself, but for some reason you don't really want to at the moment. You're just sort of numb. At least the dark cloud isn't suffocating you like it had been for the past few weeks.

Once you're done you towel yourself dry and change while House counts to twenty with his back against the wall. That's all the time he'll give you in the place where you keep both razors and pills. But you know he's trusting you there because it would take much less time to run a razorblade across your arms or down your entire stash of leftover oxycodone from the time you broke a metacarpal three years ago.

You feel a million times better in your own clothes, even if they are just sweats you like to sleep in. The pink scrubs are in a heap in the corner of your bathroom where they will probably stay till you decide to throw them away or return them to the hospital.

House looks at you with an open mouth for a few seconds as you exit the bathroom. You have no clue what he's thinking, and don't really care. Sleep is all you need right now, and since you know House is never on time to work maybe you can sleep in.

"Are you sleeping in here with me?" You ask as you get under your covers. He takes a seat in the oversized chair in the corner of your room. You figure he'll join you eventually when he gets tired and his leg starts to hurt.

He pops a pill and watches you. You shut your eyes hoping to fall asleep, but it doesn't come. Instead you're awake again looking at House's ice blue eyes as they stare right into yours.

"I'm bored," You find yourself whining like you might have when you were a kid.

"Go to sleep Thirteen." He says still not calling you Remy. Why would he though? You're nothing more than a number to him - maybe that's why he didn't seem to upset by your attempted suicide.

Thirteen, the nickname always struck you. At first you were amused, the nickname made you feel like part of the team, then you were in and he never even looked up your real name. He never glanced at your previous employment records or med school transcripts. His eyes never once looked at the Remy Hadley on paper that you'd worked for two decades to produce.

At this point, you've come to terms with the fact that you'll always be Thirteen to him. You shouldn't care, and for more than one reason, but you do. And the fact that you do is a little bit comforting because it means you're feeling something.

"Thirteen, I can hear you thinking." House growls. You wish he'd call you Remy. God, maybe you are turning into some sort of deranged version of Cameron. The women's nice and all, but she's not you, and she's never really seemed to like you. You wonder why for a moment before realizing how little you care.

God, your thoughts are deafening. You wish you could turn your brain off and go to sleep, but you cant.

You tell your mind to stop thinking, so instead it remembers. You see yourself at nine years old. You remember being at dinner with your parents, and your mom's and jerked forward. She spilled her glass of water and you giggled. She yelled at you, and you had no idea why she was so mad. You cried for hours that night wondering what you did to make her stop loving you. You wonder why these thoughts are coming into your head. Is your mind trying to show you that you were emotionally needy back then too? Because all you want right now is for someone out there to care that one day you'll be gone.

You don't know why you suddenly feel so sad and vulnerable. You almost want the numbness back.

You curl into a ball and try to keep quiet as tears force there way through your weak eyes. Then you feel a hand on your back, and you know who it is, because who else could it be? But it doesn't make sense.

You feel a weight added to the bed as he lies down next to you, still in his rumpled jeans and strange band tee shirt. His hand roams up and down your back, staying in friendly territory. He's trying to comfort you, which is completely out of character. At least your wondering over House's intentions lets you to stop crying.

Then you feel him slow down, and you hear his breathing steady. Well, at least someone is getting some sleep tonight.

You get out of bed as slowly as you can and go into the other room. You consider trying to kill yourself again, but something tells you not to. You kind of want to know what's going to happen next in your life.

You turn on the TV, and flip between reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 and the news. Brenda is having a sleep over, and twenty-three kids died today when a school bus flipped over. It should be devastating, but a little piece of you is jealous. If millions of people die each day who don't want to, why cant you be one of them? It's unfair.

You flip back to 90210, and watch it for a few minutes before your eyes get heavy. You shut it off knowing you can finally get to sleep. You get up to curl back into bed, but then you remember that you're alone right now, and this will probably be the only time you'll be alone for the next day or so.

You rack your brain for anything you want to do, but all you really want is to be in bed. So you ignore this rare opportunity and slide back into bed under the covers next to House.

He looks peaceful as he sleeps, and like many things you've seen today it looks wrong. His lips curl into a smile, and you can't help but smile back at his unconscious form. As your eyes slowly close and you drift off to sleep you realize what you just did.

You smiled, you found happiness in something. Maybe your life doesn't completely suck.


	4. Chapter 4

Happy Mothers day everyone.

Hope you enjoy,

-E

XXXXXXXXX

You wake up alone. You search the bed with your eyes for any sign of House, but you find nothing but his tennis shoes in the corner of the room. You try to sit up, but then you realize that he's tied your right hand to the bedpost.

You scowl for a moment before pushing yourself towards the front of the bed to sit up. You wonder where House has gone before you start to smell something cooking. Is that pancakes?

"House!" You yell with a still raspy voice. He waltzes in a moment later with a smile on his face.

"Good morning love-thang," He wiggles his eyebrows.

"Can you untie me?" You ask a little bit ruder than you meant to, but your head hurts, and you have a bad habit of snapping at people when your head hurts.

"In my head this always went a little bit differently." He says suggestively before untying your hand. You wonder if his jerk-yness is overcompensating for what happened last night, because he really is just a jerk, or because this is his way of telling you that he fantasizes about you. You decide it's probably the first one, but for some reason your stomach flutters a bit when you think about the third. You blame that on being hungry as you get out of bed and the smell of pancakes invades your room completely.

He sits on the bed as you go into the bathroom to brush your teeth and get ready for the day. You shut the door behind you, but as expected he pushes it open.

"Aren't your pancakes going to burn?" You ask through a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Those aren't just pancakes thirty-one." He says. You wonder why he's switching nicknames.

Your toothbrush gets in the way of your response.

"They're Wilson family recipe macadamia nut pancakes." He fake shivers in pleasure.

"I like men too you know." You say after rinsing your mouth. In fact, recently you find yourself attracted to less drunken women at the clubs. Last week you brought home a much older man, you wonder if that was some sort of Freudian clue to who you really want, which at the moment you can't hide from yourself. He's smiling on your bed, making you his favorite breakfast, and calling you nicknames – you like it.

"Well, I found three hours of the L-word taped." He rolls his eyes, he says something else, but you can't properly hear it as you're washing your face.

"I don't watch the L-word." You say confused. You really don't watch anything, the Tivo was sort of just a huge waste of money.

"Well, I may have recorded them." House mumbles.

"Thanks for that." You say sarcastically.

You quickly finish your routine deciding to forgo make up till after breakfast. He stares at your face for a moment, and opens his mouth to say something. Then he shuts it, simply turns, and you follow him into your kitchen.

You wonder what he was going to say, but don't voice it. You know he'll only lie and say something mean.

"Macadamia nut pancakes." House says pointing towards your table, which he's set and served already. You take a seat and hesitantly try the food. You're a bit scared because you wouldn't put it past him to put a laxative in your food, but you know that he knows you'd retaliate.

"Wow," Is all you can say. They are amazing.

"I know," he nods enthusiastically, "and you're out of eggs, butter, and macadamia nuts."

"How many did you make?" You ask realizing he had to go through an industrial sized pack of butter to use up that much.

"First batch was burnt because you were moving in bed so I had to come in and tie you up then of course take advantage of you," he jokes, "then I made three batches to take to work so I can munch while you Doogie-Housers take care of my patients." He says pointing to the Tupperware container sitting on the counter. You didn't know you had Tupperware lying around.

You wonder if that means he's searched your apartment. You wouldn't put it past him, but he hasn't said anything yet and you know there's at least five or six things in here he would make fun of you for.

"You're going to miss me when I'm gone." He says taking his empty plate to the sink.

"What?" You ask confused. Is he doing some weird role-playing?

"You'll be sleeping alone tonight." He says reminding you.

"Oh," You answer, but you will in fact miss him. You wonder for a moment if you should tell him, but then decide against it.

"Do you think you can be alone?" He asks seriously.

"I'm always alone." You mumble. He raises an eyebrow.

"I'll be at work tomorrow." You add. He nods, but stares at you for a moment.

"Then again would it be fair for me not to invite you for a slumber party at my place?" he half jokes. You find yourself wondering what his apartment would be like, what sleeping in his bed would be like. You're curious about the things you'd find around his room.

You just shrug as he looks at you wondering if he can trust you.

You don't say anything to him as you stand up and head back into your room.

"What are you twelve?" He asks staring at the plate you've left on the table.

"It's my place." You shrug. He quickly takes your plate to the sink before coming into your bedroom. You pick out what you want to wear, and begin to change.

"I was expecting a tramp stamp." House mumbles. You turn around having forgotten he was watching.

"Sorry to disappoint." You say.

"Make it up to me by wearing the heals," he says glancing at the two pairs of shoes you're examining. You nod and put them on. You like them better than the boots anyhow.

He hands you your watch from the nightstand, and you slip it on before going to put on your make up. As you're applying concealer under your tired eyes you wonder how House men can just wash there faces and go, and you also note that House will be showing up to work wearing the same thing two nights in a row. He'll probably tell people that you slept together. You find yourself rolling your eyes at your own thoughts.

If House noticed, he didn't say anything.

"Lets go," You say finally ready. You finally look like yourself too, back in your own clothes and put together. It's a bit refreshing. House nods and grabs his pancakes before following you out.

You drive to the hospital as he plays with your radio presets then goes through your CDs occasionally stopping to smile or grunt.

You finally park, and hope no one notices you walking into the hospital with House.

However, you see Cuddy looking furious standing at the nurse's station a few feet inside.

"Say nothing, and don't leave my side." House says to you also noticing Cuddy. He stands still for a moment probably trying to figure out what he's done wrong. With a shrug he heads inside, and you scamper after him.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you guys all for the great reviews. I'm really enjoying writing this. I'm glad I decided to toy with 2nd person, at first I thought it was a bit awkward, but now I'm really liking it for this story.

So I'm updating extra fast, and I hope you enjoy.

-E

XXXXXXXXX

"Is there something you want to tell me, Dr. House?" Cuddy states. She is keeping her anger surprisingly in check. This scares you because you've seen the women yell at House dozens of times before, but rarely does she give him a chance to fess up.

House purses his lips for a moment, and your knees feel week. He's going to give you up, you'll be fired, you'll never work again, and you'll spend the rest of your shortened life span alone and possibly homeless.

"Nope," House shakes his head. You sigh in relief.

"Dr. Hadley?" she asks you. Once again, your body goes straight into panic mode. Your heart is beating so loud you know she can hear it.

"What is this Cuddles?" House says raising one eyebrow, a skill you never knew he had till right then.

"Lou was in the janitor's closet when he found some medical records that he figured he should return." Cuddy says putting a hand on her hip. Her other hand grabs onto the counter of the Nurse's station and her knuckles go white. Her eyes settle on you, and you look to the ground like a shamed five year old.

You tell yourself to get it together and just face her. You're an adult, you're a grown women, in fact with your lifespan you're pretty much already elderly.

"Lou?" House asks probably just to annoy her, but you're glad that his little questions postpone the trouble that's about to come.

"You know him as Blue," You mutter. A crocked smile comes across House's face.

"My office," Is all Cuddy says. She turns around and you both follow obediently.

"So, uh? What?" House mutters as she closes her door.

"I want biweekly drug tests." Cuddy says looking at you. You remember House wrote down that you accidentally over dosed, so her request is fair. You nod because this is the second time she thinks you've done drugs. At least this time she's wrong.

"No," House scoffs.

"I'll do it." You interrupt him. He pinches his lips together and gives you a look like you just royally fucked up.

"I had a feeling you'd agree." Cuddy sighs. She brings her hand to her temples and then gives you a devastated look.

She knows.

"You would have never agreed if you had actually drug overdosed." House says what he and Cuddy were both apparently thinking.

"Oh," is all you can say.

"Dr. Hadley," Cuddy sighs. You want to punch her in the face and tell her you're not a kid. You also wish she'd call you Thirteen again. This is all getting too personal for you.

"It wont happen again." You say but you know that doesn't matter to her because you all know that if it was true or not that's what you would be saying.

"She needs to be on suicide watch." Cuddy says staring at her desk.

"She has been." House answers seriously.

"You?" she asks looking up at him. He nods, you do too.

"House if something happens," she pauses and looks at you, "we could be in a lot of trouble."

"Nothing is going to happen." House says putting his arm by yours. His almost protective manner brings a small smile to your mouth. One that doesn't go unnoticed by Cuddy.

"I want you to keep keeping an eye on her." Cuddy says. She looks as if she has a lot more to say, but she holds back.

House gets up to leave, and you do too, but then she starts to speak.

"I'm here." She says. You nod, and then follow House out.

That wasn't too awful. She didn't even yell. You try to convince yourself that it was okay, but you know it wasn't. Your boss' boss now thinks you're some fragile lost puppy, and House is becoming your full time babysitter. You've officially been demoted to toddler status.

But, at least your workday goes well. Once again, Foreman and Taub are too lost in their own worlds to notice how House stays in your side of the office today, and follows you out.

Forman does however seem to notice House's attire.

"Is that what you were wearing yesterday?" He asks around lunch.

"Not all of us can afford a new suit every day." House spits back.

"Did you- " Forman starts.

"I slept with Cuddy." House cuts him off, "We did it on her desk then spent the night here." He deadpans.

Taub looks a bit uncomfortable before looking back at the whiteboard like he's had an epiphany.

And hour worth of testing later, he's right, and your patient has walked out of the hospital. House tells everyone to go home early so once again you pretend like you're just taking especially long to pack up as Taub and Forman leave.

Finally they're gone, and House stares at you for a few moments while you're alone in the room. It's almost five, he technically can't leave you till nine, and Cuddy wants him with you longer.

"My place tonight." House says. You nod and throw your bag over your shoulder.

"House, can I get a consult." Dr. Cameron pops her head into the office. House looks at you before turning to her.

"Mm," He debates with himself, "no"

"House," Cameron puts a hand on her pink scrub clad hip, "I'm about ninety percent sure he's a faker."

"Fine, Thirteen come along in case Dr. Dimwit needs a third opinion." House says motioning for you to follow as if you weren't planning on it. You sigh and nod, playing along for the sake of Dr. Cameron, and follow then to the ER.

House looks at the patient for five minutes before telling you the guys a drug seeker. Cameron nods, and then you follow House out to the parking lot.

You take his car this time as you head for his house.

"Pizza or Chinese?" he asks as he heads to his place.

"Pizza." You decide.

"I want Chinese." He argues as he parks by his apartment.

"Okay," You concede as you follow him inside. Truth be told you really couldn't care less.

"Why will no one fight with me anymore?" He half asks half jokes. You don't respond as you follow him inside.

His apartment is surprisingly clean, and you like the color of his walls. You recognize a couple of the books on his shelf, and you hold back on the urge to ask him why he's reading Tori Spelling's new autobiography.

"Sorry you're stuck with me again." You say to him.

"What you think you're spending the night?" he once again raises just one eyebrow.

"Are you planning on taking me back to my car?" You ask him.

"Well, no." he shrugs.

"Good," you say realizing that may not have been the best word choice as he gives you a big grin, but, what the hell, you know you like him and you clearly need to stop hiding all your feelings.

He continues to stare at you so you stand closer to him until you can feel his breath on your face. Then you kiss him. He doesn't pull away, thank god. You're insides go crazy as he kisses back.

His hands go up to your hair, and you know the Chinese food is long forgotten.

You slowly push each other into his bedroom, still connected at the lips. Then you fall onto the bed. You're so wrapped up in him that you don't even take the time to properly assess his room.

You're in the room that House sleeps in every night, and you couldn't even care less because right now House is on top of you and that's all you can and want to focus on.

You wriggle out of your pants, and then pull his shirt over his head.

He doesn't say anything as more and more clothing is shed, and soon you're naked. You wonder if you should say anything, voice what's about to happen. You look into his eyes for some sort of confirmation.

"Get out of your head." He says knowing what you're going through. You try to shut your brain off and only focus on the now, and this time it surprisingly works.

You feel his scratchy stubble on your face, and his soft lips on your neck. You feel heat, pleasure - happiness.


	6. Chapter 6

You wake up in House's bed and finally have a chance to look around. He has a very nice bed, but he probably needs it for his leg. You scan through some of the book titles on his shelf recognizing more and more. You see he clearly has a thing for autobiographies of moderately famous people, and a large collection of first edition medical books – probably gifts from Wilson.

You wonder if House will tell Wilson about you two, wonder what they'll say about what's been going on. You turn around to ask him, but then you realize you're alone in his bed. He's left your side, and you're not locked up.

Your suicide watch is technically over, but you're still a little surprised to be alone. You don't know how much you like it. You already miss House by your side 24/7 to snap you out of your thoughts and to give sarcastic comments to every aspect of your life.

You get up to go to the bathroom alone for the first time in days. The fact that you are the only one who can currently hear yourself pee brings a smile to your lips. When you're done you wash your hands and face, and use the new toothbrush that House has left on the counter for you. That was sweet of him. Then again, you find yourself thinking anything that House does that isn't jerk-y sweet.

Going into the kitchen you see House making eggs. He sees you and turns off the stove. He brings two plates to his table, which is already set. You could get used to House making you breakfast.

You want to bring up last night, maybe that's why he's made eggs – simply to torture you with imagery.

"You going to tell Wilson?" You ask not just about the fact that you've slept together, but about everything that's happened in the past three days.

"His head would explode." House says as he guzzles down his orange juice.

"Wilson's a tough guy." You counter.

"Wilson's the guy at the gym benching the bar. I'm not about to drop a 50lb weight on his chest." House quips. You love how he can make anything into a sport metaphor, although this is really more of a just gym metaphor.

You just nod and continue to eat. You're kind of sad he doesn't want to tell Wilson. It's a reminder that you're really not part of his life. You wonder if you ever will be.

Were the past few days just some sort of wacky adventure never to be repeated again?

House finishes his plate and brings his fork to yours. You smile at how he's eating off your plate. You like this sharing and even the crowding of each other's personal space.

You're going to miss House watching you pick out your shoes in the morning or pushing open the bathroom door when you go in to brush your teeth. You'll miss the domesticity because for the past few days you felt like you were living together, like you had a close relationship.

You look up at House, half expecting him to tell you to get out of your head, but instead he grins as he reaches over and finishes off your juice. He picks up both of your plates and brings them to his sink.

"So, am I going to have to pretend I slept with Cuddy today?" You ask pointing to your clothes.

"Do you not keep a spare set in your locker?" He asks.

"Do you not keep a spare set in yours?" You ask.

"But you're female, you creatures hoard clothes like I hoard vicodin." He says with his sideways grin.

"Not quite," You shake your head.

"Fine, pink scrubs for you again." House decides.

"Lovely," You say pulling your knees up to your chest. You're tired from the lack of sleeping you two did last night.

"I'll send you to the ER, it will seem normal then." House shrugs, "Taub can do the clinic, Forman can sit on his ass, and I can watch my soaps." He muses. He always seems to send you to the ER when he doesn't need you. While at first you thought it was because how far it was from diagnostics a new thought has popped into your head. Maybe he's doing something nice for you by not sending you into the room where you almost died just a few months back. You like how you keep catching him being respectful of your feelings.

"Great." You yawn while still getting your sarcasm across.

"Good, lets go." House says grabbing his cane from the table and heading towards his car. You run after him to follow. It's surprising how fast he is on his cane.

While he drives, you take the chance to go through his glove compartment. You spot at least six prescription bottles of vicodin.

"You could kill a small grade school with this many pills." You remark.

"That's my intention," He deadpans. You chuckle, and shut the glove compartment. He pulls up to the hospital. You like that his parking spot is like ten steps from the door.

He waves goodbye as you go into the locker room to put on another fantastic pair of pink scrubs before you go into the ER.

You feel awkward as you enter the ER. You see a familiar blonde ponytail and head over to Cameron. You feel a bit like her, you're on her territory, wearing the same clothes, and sleeping with the man she once loved.

"You okay Dr. Hadley?" she asks you kindly.

"Yeah," You nod.

"You sure, you look upset." She asks putting a hand on your arm.

"Just House," You lie, well not lie because he is what you're obsessing about, but you're letting her think he's being a jerk to you.

"Yeah, know the feeling." She smiles.

"So, I'm with you for the day." You say awkwardly looking around at the lack of filled beds.

"Well, I've got a guy over there who could use some stitches." She says looking around, "I guess today's been a good day" she laughs.

You nod, and head over to the boy behind the curtain. He needs about twelve stitches down his arm.

You clean the cut before you begin stitching, but your mind is on House. You're glad you're doing mindless work because you would not be able to focus on a patient today.

You really just want to ask House what is going on with the two of you. Is this something you can expect to be doing again? You normally hate those talks, you are so not the kind of girl to obsess over men, but you cant help yourself right now.

You really like him, and have no clue if he likes you. You're hopeful though.

You finish the boy's arm quickly then help an older lady with a sprained ankle. A few mindless tasks later and it's lunch.

You head into the cafeteria and take a seat by yourself after getting food. You look around and see House coming in. He steels a bagel and goes to sit by Wilson. He doesn't notice you're here.

You wonder if he's talking to Wilson about you, but doubt it as they laugh and House steels his food. You feel a flash of jealousy as House eats off Wilson's plate, but you dismiss it instantly.

"He must have really pissed you off," Cameron says taking a seat at your table.

"Yeah," You lie. If only you could be mad at him. She smiles possibly knowing something is up.

"He's convinced I got a boob and nose job." You lie knowing a story needs to be made up.

"Seriously?" Cameron asks.

"No, because he has my medical records, but he's seriously convincing everyone else." You say surprised at how angry you sound at your fake story.

"Everyone knows he's full of shit." Cameron laughs.

"I guess." You say taking a final glance at House before turning back to Cameron.

"Thanks for helping out today." She says playing with her fruit salad.

"I feel like I'm taking your only patients." You smile.

"Don't feel bad about that." She laughs. Her pager goes off and she bolts up.

"Looks like we've jinxed ourselves." She says throwing her food away. You follow her into the ER as at least twenty kids in the same school uniform are all brought in.

"Bus crash," Cameron informs you handing you a file. You start with the stitching and triage.

Seven hours, sixteen broken bones, one hundred and twenty two stitches, and two concussions later you're done for the day.

You head up to the diagnostics office to check in with House and the team.

Taub is already gone, Forman is writing up a file and House is in his office. You go into his office.

"Enjoy sleeping alone tonight." House raises his eyebrows at you.

"Finally," you say, but really you wouldn't mind sharing a bed for the third night in a row.

"See you tomorrow," He says shutting off the light, "and try not to do anything stupid."

"Shut up," you laugh as you head out to the parking lot with him. You separate in the lot and head to your own car.

When you arrive at your house you just sit there for a moment.

You don't want to be alone.


	7. Chapter 7

You don't know how long you've been standing there, but the sky is turning purple and the moon is fading. It could be hours, minutes, seconds, but to you it feels like time is standing still. You're standing in front of a door, but really its much more than that. It's your proverbial fork in the road, it's your time to chose which path you want to take.

Finally, you pull your out from the pocket of your sweatshirt and knock on the door.

You wait, this time you know it's only a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity.

You reach your hand out to knock again, but the door swings open, and he grabs your wrist mid air. Pulling you towards him he examines your wrists then your nails beds.

"Are you okay?" He asks sounding genuine despite his raspy middle of the night voice. You nod because you are physically okay, but then you shake your head because there's more to the question than just that. He raises an eyebrow.

"I don't want to be alone." You tell him. He puts his hand around your arm and helps you inside.

He goes into the kitchen, and offers you a drink. You consider getting smashed with him, but you know you're due at work in just a few short hours.

"No," You say taking a seat on his couch. House grumbles, probably surprised at your answer, but you don't feel the need to numb anything currently. You need to be sober for this; you need to be as right minded as you can at four fifty three in the morning.

"I like you," You choke out. He stares for a moment, once again time is standing still.

He says nothing, but he inches closer to you and you kiss. He pulls away moments later.

"So I read something interesting in your Cosmo the other day." He grins.

"How to do the perfect cat eye?" You joke.

"Would you call yourself flexible?" He asks. You nod.

XXXXXXXXXXX

You follow House into the hospital for what seems like the millionth time, but of course not in a bad way.

You see Cuddy notice you two coming in together, she gives you a week smile, and you return it with a smile larger than you've given in a long time. She quirks her head to the side confused by what's going on.

You follow after House up to diagnostics leaving Cuddy to come to her own conclusions as you enter the office. Taub notices you two coming in together, but apparently thinks nothing of it. Foreman once again is lost in his own world.

"Do we have a new patient?" Taub asks looking up from his fingernails.

"Yes," House says picking up something from his desk, "her name is Candy Land." He sits at the table and sets down the box.

"House," Foreman crosses his arms, but he's beaten to the chase to yell at House by Cuddy who enters the office.

You notice her glance at you before dropping four copies of a file on the table.

"Anal bleeding, seizures, hallucinations, and shin splints." House reads unamused.

"Exploratory surgery revealed nothing. So, get to it." She says.

"Wild guess - the shin splints aren't connected." Taub mutters.

"Wrong, they tell us our guy just started to run or hike or some kind of exercise his body isn't prepared for." House corrected while getting up to write the symptoms on the board.

"Why are you still here?" Foreman asked Cuddy. You give him an odd look, why does he notice her odd behavior and not yours?

"I need to speak with House." Cuddy says while staring at you. House notices.

"Foreman search the house, Taub go get a history. Thirteen get his surgical notes from the surgery exploratory surgery he had yesterday to find out where the bleeding was coming from." House ordered. You hang back as casually as you can while Foreman and Taub rush out.

"Dr. Hadley." She says to you as she hands you a urine cup.

"You're actually making her take the drug tests." House asks.

"You agreed to it." She says patting you on the shoulder. You look at House for a moment hoping he'll get you out of this. She's not going to find anything new, but this is still humiliating.

"I'd give you my pee, but I don't think it would be clean." He smirks. You turn to Cuddy.

"You agreed Doctor Hadley." She reminds you again.

You nod and leave the room uncomfortably, but she stops you once you're about to walk through the door.

"Don't drop it off at the main lab." She says. You know she's doing you a favor because this means it will be undocumented, but there's something ridiculously embarrassing about handing your boss' boss a cup of your pee.

"Meet you in our lab in three?" You ask. She nods, and you head off towards the bathroom. You go fill the cup, then meet her in the lab

To your surprise House is in there too.

"Do you not trust me?" You ask him.

"You made me no promises. I'm just curious." He shrugs. You pull out a testing kit, and begin. In about two minutes they'll know you're clean.

"You should really drink more water." House comments and you feel your cheeks go red. He really seems to be breaking down all of your boundaries.

"Clean." You say the moment the timer goes off. Cuddy leans over to double check, and with a nod she heads out.

"See you again in three days." She says. Your jaw drops open.

"Seriously?" You ask annoyed.

"Bi weekly." She says before leaving.

"See, she's evil." House says putting a hand on his hip. You shake your head as you throw away the test, and instead of putting your urine back in the fridge you throw it away too. Then you wash your hands and hope House doesn't feel the need to bring this up in front of Taub and Foreman. You don't think he will though because it will make them curious about the whole situation.

"Empty lab, two more untried positions," House muses nonchalantly.

"Seriously?" You ask him. He smirks and nods.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys,

I wanted to say thanks for all the great reviews, and for those of you reading Racing -sorry. I know I've kind of put it on the back burner. This story is almost finished. When I wrote it I only intended for it to be ten chapters, I might make it longer if you guys are liking it though. But anyhow, I promise I'll update Racing soon.

Enjoy and let me know what you think,

-E

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

You haven't slept alone in over two weeks. Ever since you admitted to House that you didn't want to be alone, he's made sure you haven't been. Granted, you two give each other personal space now, but he's always somewhere in your apartment or your always somewhere in his.

You sit and watch him across the glass table. You're practically having eye sex even though it's been less than ten hours since you've last had actual sex.

"You okay?" Taub asks noticing how you're intently staring at House.

"You've been acting odd lately." Foreman pipes in. Sure, now they notice.

"Yeah Thirteen, what's up?' House smiles widely. He's enjoying this.

"Nothing, can we get back to the patient?" You say harsher than you meant to.

"Snappy," House smirks.

"Cuddy's been in here a lot lately." Foreman says looking off.

"You caught us, we've been hooking up." You roll your eyes.

"Are you doing drugs again?" Foreman asks bluntly. This is why you hate sharing your personal life.

"No," You say. You see House resisting the urge to laugh, if only Foreman knew the extent you have to go to biweekly to prove that one. Five clean drug tests in a row don't lie.

"Is that a nightclub stamp on your hand?" Taub asks noticing the black writing.

"It's a phone message." You practically scream. Why is it suddenly lets asks Thirteen annoying questions day?

"Somebody's time of the month?" House asks glancing at the calendar by his desk.

"No," You bite back. Foreman raises his eyebrows at you as if to say you're lying and you give him a dirty look to tell him you two are not close enough anymore for him to be inquiring about your menstrual cycle.

"Taub, Foreman go do my clinic duty. Thirteen I will question you till you crack." House shouts out as you both notice Cuddy approaching down the hallway.

"Very funny." You mutter as they leave the room. House gives you a grin.

"You are slightly testier than normal." He muses.

"They were being slightly more annoying than normal." You cross your arms over your chest. Cuddy gives you a look from the corner of the room.

You get up and take the urine container she's holding as you leave the room for the bathroom.

You meet them in the lab a few moments later to once again prove that you're drug free.

"How much longer do I have to do this?" You ask Cuddy bluntly.

"Another month or so," she shrugs. You give her a look to let her know you're not okay with that. She gives you a look back as if to remind you she's your boss.

"Can I just send them to the lab under a pseudonym?" You ask trying to bargain.

"I suppose that's fair." She nods.

"Only once a week?" You ask trying to get more out of this.

"No," she shakes her head. You figured she would because she knows you could get your hands on dozens of drugs that only take three days to wash out of the system, what she doesn't know is that you're done with drugs. You've come to terms with your life, and if you're going to live it you want to be aware of it. Besides, you don't tend to do well with the comedowns.

"Fine," You practically growl. She leans in again to check the results than looks back at you.

"Is something wrong Dr. Hadley?" she asks.

"No," You answer trying to keep how annoyed you are from your voice.

"She's been like this all day." House nods at Cuddy.

"Keep an eye on her." Cuddy says before walking out leaving you open jawed and pissed off.

"Looks like we'll be having another sleep over." House smirks. You've been having sleepovers every night for quite a while now so this doesn't really change anything.

"I'm going to go see how the patient is." You say needing to get out of the lab.

"I'll be coming with you." House says. You sigh and walk off hearing cane thumps behind you.

House is by your side within seconds and you contemplate wearing running shoes to work.

"House, lunch?" You hear Wilson ask. You smile as House stops moving and you know you can just walk away. You need some alone time.

You take a step forward, but trip over the cane House has held out. Pulling yourself to your feet you glare out House. Wilson also gives him an odd look.

"No," House says answering Wilson's question then walking right behind you once again.

"Thirteen come here." Wilson calls. You're tempted to continue walking and pretend you didn't hear him, but you clearly did. So, you turn around and walk over to Wilson. House does too, and a smile comes over Wilson's face.

"What aren't you two telling me?' He asks amused.

"Nothing," You and House both say unintentionally in unison. He smiles at you after it happens

"So now you want to fill me in?" Wilson asks letting you know he knows something is up.

"We're together." House says putting his arm around your waist. You push it off upset that he tripped you.

"Seriously House." Wilson says not believing him.

"He's following me to drive me crazy." You answer knowing its half true.

"You cancelled poker night three times in a row. You wouldn't take a failing prank this far. That's clearly not it," Wilson says pointing at House, "and if you were to be doing that you wouldn't lie about it. You'd be proud and you'd tell me."

"I thought if you knew what I was doing you'd scoop her up and marry her." House deflects again.

"We're getting lunch." Wilson says brushing off House's jab, "and I have an odd feeling Thirteen will be coming."

"Your treat." House says rather than asks.

"You two have been sleeping together." Wilson says with an emphasis on the have part realizing House was telling the truth. You wonder how House classifies your relationship. Are you only sleeping together? Are you exclusive? You know neither of you are sleeping with anyone else, but is that option there? You hope it's not.

"I told you his head would explode." House says looking at you as Wilson struggles to put a sentence together.

"I – this –it's," Wilson tries, "good." He says ending up saying it more like a question.

"It is good." House nods looking at you seductively. You roll your eyes, but you're kind of glad Wilson now knows. This makes it more real.


	9. Chapter 9

You really want to go home by yourself tonight so you pack up as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Forman and Taub seem to be on speed or something because they're gone before you even have your lab coat off. You silently curse them for taking their sweet time when you need to leave last, and being crazy fast when you want to leave first.

"I'm coming to your place tonight." House waltzes into your section of the office.

"House, I want to be alone tonight." You sigh hoping he'll get the picture.

"No can do. Cuddy's got me back on Thirteen watch." House shakes his head.

"Don't you trust me?" You say knowing full well that pulling the trust card this early in the relationship (which may or may not be official outside of your own head) is a bitch move.

"Not as much as I don't want to risk losing you." He answers. You pout. That was a good answer.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid." You tell him avoiding being anymore descriptive than that.

"I know you wont because I'll be there." He says.

"House," You raise your voice a bit. You just want to go take a long shower and sleep. You feel like being alone after these really packed last weeks, you lost your patient today, and you don't feel well.

"I'll make you dinner." House tries.

"I'm not hungry." You say.

"Look, you don't really have a say in the matter. If you want to go home tonight I'm going to be there." House says growing annoyed with the conversation. You regret pushing him this far, but still just really want to go home alone.

"Fine," You grumble. He rolls his eyes at you as he pops a pill into his mouth. You put your bag around your shoulder and stalk off to your car with House following behind you. Your tempted to not open the passenger door of your car, but using the manual key to just unlock your side would be way too much work. He'd probably just follow you on his bike anyhow.

"Are you really going to ignore me?" House says as you drive off, "How pedantic is that?"

"I'm not ignoring you. I just don't feel like talking." You say. Your tempted to make fun of his word choice too, but you can't be bothered.

"I had to come home with you," House says looking out the window, "I taped all that L word."

"Of course you did." You mutter as you park in your spot under your apartment building.

"Your apartments also way cooler than mine." House adds as he follows you inside.

"I'm going to have to start looking for a new place eventually." You mutter. You know you cant live here when the chorea starts kicking in. God you're depressing yourself right now. Maybe it was a good thing House came home with you.

"My place is fully handicap accessible." House says going straight to your kitchen. You take a seat at your bar as he starts pulling things from cabinets.

"Are you asking me to move in with you?" You ask confused.

"I'm just putting it out there." House says not really answering your question.

"So are we like in a relationship?" You finally just ask.

"I'm in your kitchen cooking you dinner. I never even went grocery shopping for Wilson when he lived with me. As a matter of fact, I never once cooked for Stacey." He says as he puts a pan over the stove.

"So that's a yes?" You say.

"I'd say so." He nods, "Does the fact that I'm hooked on vicodin and enjoy touching little kids make me a bad boyfriend?" he asks with an eyebrow wiggle.

"House," You sigh putting a hand to your temples. Your head is pounding.

"Fine, only one of those two things is true." He admits as if you didn't already know. You smirk at him as he starts chopping vegetables for the pasta he's making.

"You okay?" He asks noticing how you're hunched over in your stool rubbing your temples.

"Fine," You say standing up. You go around the bar and grab a bottle of Advil from your cabinet. You down three without water.

"So I'm not the only one who can do that." House smiles.

"Nope, although you still have the monopoly on being able to flip them in the air and catch them in your mouth." You tell him. He smiles as he flips a piece of tomato in the air with his knife and catches it in his mouth.

"I'm gonna go lie down." You say.

"On the couch." He says.

"Seriously?" You sigh. He nods enthusiastically. You can't believe he's actually not letting you out of his sight again. You head into your connected living room and lie on your couch.

Your head slowly begins to feel better as the medicine kicks in, but your stomach is just getting worse.

"You getting sick?" House calls out from the kitchen.

"No," You yell back.

"Do I need to remind you about what kind of patients doctors make?" House yells back.

"I'm fine." You respond curling yourself tighter into a ball. Your stomach is cramping like crazy. Maybe you have just been pmsing today. You have been really bad about taking the pill since your accident (well, not quite an accident). You pretty much forget it every time you stay at House's house, and you know that fucks with your cycle.

"Dinner will be ready in ten." House shouts.

"Cool," You answer not really knowing what to say to that. He's probably just trying to keep you talking so he knows you're alive.

"Wine or water?" He calls out exactly sixty seconds later. So he is doing this on purpose.

"Water," you say not wanting to risk making your head hurt again.

"Ice?" He asks another sixty seconds later. You don't respond just to mess with him. Within seconds he's standing there looking annoyed.

"I don't understand how you're so fast with that cane." You laugh.

"Lie down in the kitchen," He grumbles.

"Ice please." You respond not moving. Instead you curl into a tighter ball. He lifts an eyebrow and smirks at you before going back to the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The morning goes about as well as the previous night. You wake up ten minutes before your alarm goes off to throw up nothing but bile.

Within moments House is by your side.

"Gross," he mumbles loudly and obnoxiously as he pulls back your hair.

"Tell me about it." You say as you wipe your mouth. You go to the sink and brush your teeth as he watches you. He puts his hand to your forehead, but you slap it off.

"Even if I was sick would you really let me stay here alone?" You ask.

"Nope." He says after thinking about it for the moment. You wash your face and start to get ready for work.

"Do you think Dr. Oblivious and his shorter whiter twin will notice if I wear the same shirt twice in a row?" House asks.

"Doubt it." You answer. House nods, but takes off his wrinkled button down shirt in favor of just wearing his band shirt.

"I don't think they'd notice if you wore my clothes." You add. He gives you a smile.

When your finally ready to go he takes your keys.

"Don't trust me to drive now?" You ask.

"You're sick, who knows if your judgment is any good." He answers. You shrug as you let him drive you to work. Your head ache starts to come back as you follow him into the diagnostics office.

"Did you two come in together?" Forman asks. You stare at him incredulously. Seriously! Now he finally notices. Now?

"What?" Taub's head snaps up.

"Is that the shirt you wore yesterday?" Forman asks.

"Don't think so." Taub answers. You resist the urge to laugh.


	10. Chapter 10

So, I've extended this to be fifteen chapters because I just feel like there's a bit more to the story. So, hope you enjoy.

-E

XXXXXXXXXX

House stares at you intently across the glass table. Foreman and Taub are both completely aware that something is up. You haven't had a patient in days, and monopoly is getting old, especially when you'd rather be at home sleeping off the flu that you haven't been able to shake for the past week.

Two pagers go off. You look down and see one of them isn't yours.

"You two doing something without me?' House asks holding his silent pager. Foreman and Taub shrug.

"They want us in the ER apparently." Foreman says grabbing his lab coat and leaving with Taub right behind him.

"Wait!" House yells. They stop in front of the door.

"What?" Taub asks.

"Cameron thinks she can steel my doctors and get away with it, pshht. No way." House says like a catty little girl. You wonder why you weren't paged.

"House, it's a 911." Taub says impatiently.

"What did your wife who so happens to be Forman's second cousin hit her head so badly that she needs a neurologist and a plastic surgeon?" House says. Foreman and Taub look at each other for a moment trying to figure out why they were needed.

"They'll page you again if it's important." You say slightly pissed that you weren't needed especially since you are the only one out of the three fellows who did a rotation in an ER.

"And if you leave we'll have to start monopoly all over again." House mock whines.

"Cuddy's coming." Taub says noting her approaching through the glass walls.

"You guys are in trouble now." House exaggerates. Foreman and Taub get up again to go but run into Cuddy at the door.

"We were just on our way." Taub mumbles to her.

"Stay," House says to them again. You just had a drug test yesterday so he knows that isn't why she's here.

"They should go if they were paged." Cuddy says glaring at House.

"They're my doctors, tell Cameron to get her own fellows." House argues.

"House, your patient has a problem." Cuddy says pursing her lips together tightly. House looks at you, and you glare back. He hasn't left our side all week and you've been sick when you have found time to do drugs?

"Bertha?" House asks. You roll your eyes at the pseudonym he chose. Bertha Thundera Fitzgerald, it's ridiculous.

"We have a patient?" Forman asks still standing in the doorway.

"You should go to the ER." You say when you see Cuddy nod. House waves a hand letting them know its okay to leave. Cuddy probably had them paged.

"Clinic patient." House says when Foreman won't leave. Foreman nods then finally goes.

"Bertha is drug free." You say standing up to see the print out she has from the lab.

"Bertha Fitzgerald is pregnant." House smiles without even getting out of his chair. You drop the paper. Cuddy picks it up and hands it to you.

"What?" You finally say. You sit down. This was completely unexpected, "You knew?" You direct at House.

"I had a hunch. Who do you think ordered the extra test?" He says smugly.

"Do you know who the father is?" Cuddy asks. You look at her to let her know the question was inappropriate. Your life isn't quite the mess she thinks it is.

"Does it matter? I can't have a baby." You say not wanting to tell her about you and House.

"I want a baby." House says. Cuddy snaps her head towards him.

"Is this baby going to have blue eyes?" she asks.

"Well, my dad had blue eyes so it's a possibility." You say acting as if you didn't understand the underlying question. House nods vehemently from the table.

"I'm not going to have a kid so she can watch me die, then die herself." You grumble.

"If only there existed a test to see if your child has inherited a genetic disorder." House makes fun of you.

"I got Bertha a consult upstairs with Jones from obstetrics." Cuddy says still open mouthed about the realization that this child is House's.

"When is Bertha's appointment?" House asks.

"Can we stop it with the Bertha!" You practically yell.

"Now." Cuddy says. You stand up to head upstairs. House follows.

"You're coming?" You ask.

"Well, duh." He says, "This is my future devilishly handsome tall genius little boy."

"Or your dying ballerina," You mumble before giving Cuddy a weak smile and going to the elevator.

"You know thirty years from now there may be a treatment for Huntington's." House says in the elevator.

"My dad said something along those lines when he told me that the disease was genetic." You mumble trying to push back the terrible memories. You hated your mother. She was embarrassing and no help growing up. Even if your kid did test negative you couldn't imagine having him or her hating you.

Your mind keeps flashing between different scenarios - you braiding a little blue eyed girls hair, a little boy crying over your grave, you and House teaching a little boy to ride a bike, a preteen girl telling you she hates you as your body jerks in ways you can't control.

"You're freaking out." House whispers into your ear, "Get out of your head"

You smile up at him. That's like your own little phrase. Where most couples have songs, you two have Houseisms.

Even under the best of circumstances though, even if the baby tested negative and you were put on some miracle treatment, you know your future family would be so strange. Your kid won't undoubtedly be a genius and most likely be beautiful. He or she might also have a taste for breaking rules and drugs.

You think House would be a good dad, he'd probably undermine your authority constantly though.

"You're smiling." House says.

"Yeah," You shrug. You need to stop thinking like this. This could all still go terribly wrong.

A nurse comes out and calls your name. She looks surprised to see House with you, but she says nothing. She takes your height, weight, and blood pressure. Blood pressure is a little high but you are kind of freaking out.

"House?" Dr. Jones says entering the room.

"Here for moral support." He says. Dr. Jones raises an eyebrow. House gives him a rude look. The doctor flips through your file for a few moments.

"I suppose you'll want genetic testing done." He says not looking up at you.

"Yeah," You nod.

"Let's get an ultrasound and see how far along you are." He says. You'll probably have to wait another few weeks before he can do genetic testing.

You shiver under the cold gel, but you feel warm inside once you can see images. You see a little blob on the screen, but it's the prettiest blob you've ever seen.

"I'd say you're about five or six weeks along. We can do genetic testing in about two months." He says.

"We'll schedule another appointment." House says. You nod too scared to say a word.


	11. Chapter 11

You've officially reached the ten-week mark. In four weeks you'll know if your fetus has Huntington's. The scenario keeps running through your mind. It could be devastating. You've only been pregnant for ten weeks, but you already feel attached. Your future is growing inside of you. The baby will be a part of you and a part of House. You want it so badly even though a baby is clearly not the next logical step in your relationship.

You're almost surprised House hasn't said anything rude about you being pregnant. You half expect him to claim you're after child support or something he knows isn't true. You make plenty of money working for House, and unlike everyone else you have no future retirement to save up for. Although maybe you should start, things could all work out.

You're wearing a tight sweater. You figure you should wear all your tight fitting clothes while you still can. Your stomach is hurting a bit though. Apparently, you aren't handling the first trimester well.

You know if the baby tests positive the right move would be to abort it, but you've had it inside of you for two and a half months now and you can't imagine it not being there. You don't know if you'd recover from that at this point. You always assumed you would never have kids after getting your diagnoses, and then you always played it safe, until House came along.

"MS is stupid." House's shrill yell shakes you out of your head. You've been slacking off today during the differential diagnoses.

"But the test is much safer, we might as well rule it out before we dig into this guy's head," Taub argues.

You have no clue what they're talking about. House looks at you, but you say nothing.

"Taub's right." Foreman pipes in.

"Fine go run the damn test." House glares at Taub. He stumbles out of his chair and out of the room.

"Foreman, you might as well go inform the family that you've killed their dad because instead of treating him you're taking pictures." House snaps at Foreman. Foreman smirks at House. You know the power play kills House.

House opens his mouth to say something else to Foreman, but instead his head jerks towards you.

"You okay?" He asks having noticed you wincing.

"Fine," You nod. Foreman looks at you now too.

"Is Bertha alright?" House asks again being slightly more cryptic this time.

"Your clinic patient from like a months ago?" Foreman asks.

"Yeah, she's been displaying some new symptoms." House says glaring at you.

"She's fine." You say again.

"How does Thirteen know her?" Foreman asks.

"Close family friends." House says.

"She's like a sister." You nod.

"You two are practically the same person." House shudders. Foreman looks confused at your playful banter with House.

"Bertha is doing great though. I just spoke with her." You insist.

"MRI's booked for the next hour." Taub reenters the office.

"Oh, while you wait then go ahead and start my treatment or biopsy his brain to prove me right." House says.

"No," Foreman insists. Taub gives House a weary look before sitting down. You're hit with a pang in the stomach and you wince again. Foreman notices that time. House does too once again. He's too perceptive for his own good.

"Just cramps." You practically yell out forgoing the Bertha talk. Taub gives you a really weird look.

"You should get that checked out." House says sounding fairly concerned. Now it's his turn for the weird looks.

"It's normal, House." You say forcefully.

"Get yourself upstairs or to the ER" He says being completely irrational.

"Tenderness over McBurney's point?" Foreman asks.

"No," You shake your head. He thinks you have appendicitis, how lovely.

"Are we really DDXing her cramps?" Taub asks sounding unamused.

"Cramps at this stage," You hesitate not sure how to finish that phrase, "is perfectly normal." You say opting not to say what stage of.

Foreman's eyes practically bug out of his head, but Taub takes no notice.

"Now that we're done discussing Thirteen's cramps can we get back to the patient?" Taub says. God he's oblivious.

"Did I do that to you?" Foreman asks awkwardly. You want to smack him in the head. Does he really think this is what you look like five months along? You are absolutely not pregnant with his baby.

"Do you need a lesson in female anatomy?" Taub asks incredulously. House bops him lightly on the top of his head with his cane.

"She's pregnant you moron." House says. You look at his to show how ungrateful you are that he just voiced that.

"Not yours." You say looking over at Foreman. He sighs in relief.

"It's Chase's." House wiggles his eyebrows. Foreman gets a strange look on his face.

"It's no one you know. No one important" You say to Foreman. House pretends to look hurt for a millisecond.

You rub your stomach. It's probably just stress, and completely normal. House catches your movement though and dashes out f the office. Foreman and Taub both just sort of look at you.

"How far along are you?" They ask.

"A little over two months." You say regretting telling them especially because you don't know how healthy this baby will be.

"Who's the dad?" Taub asks. You don't answer.

"Any names?" Foreman asks.

"I was thinking Eric or Erica." You joke. He laughs.

"Chris and Christina – both beautiful names." Taub adds. You nod with mock enthusiasm. You guys laugh and they ask general questions that you actually ask. You find yourself sharing information, and its kind of nice. You've always been so closed off that this is a completely new feeling for you.

You spot House wheeling the portable ultra sound machine in a few moments later.

"You've got to be kidding me." You say sitting back in your chair. No way in hell are you going to do that in here. You may find yourself becoming close with your coworkers, but not that close.

House cracks a smile, and you just shake your head.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry, if House is getting about ooc. I'm trying not to, but I feel like it is a bit. Also sorry to you Racing readers, I'm just not really feeling inspired Ive outlined the last few chapters, but I haven't gotten around to writing them. Ill finish it eventually. However, here's more of this one for now. Also, I might actually finish this one before writing more of that one. Hopefully not though.

I'm also toying around with the idea of a sequel for this one, or maybe just skipping some time or something. There aren't really any house and thirteen family fics around. But still I dunno how Id do it or how far in the future it'd be. It could also just be house with a kid and thirteen already gone, but I like writing her. Then again the kid could be like a mini her. So…a lot of options. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

- E

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So, uh…do you think, I mean now," House stumbles. You roll over in bed to face him. You need to see what makes Gregory House, Mr. Blunt, uncomfortable.

"Yes," You encourage.

"Maybe its time for another drug trial." He mumbles. Your eyes find his, but you don't really know what to say.

"House, I had a brain tumor, and I'm pregnant now." You say.

"What do you think the chances of you getting another tumor on a different trial medication are?" He asks.

"Probably on par with having three straight generations of Huntington's or winding up on the placebo." You mutter.

"Life can suck, but is that any reason to stop trying." He says sitting up. You sit up too. You barely believe what's coming from his mouth. His typical cynicism has been laced with hope lately and you don't really understand why.

"What is this?" You ask.

"Can't have our kid have two shotty parents," he shrugs, "chances are my liver wont last another twenty years, and the kid needs someone to watch him in his first NBA playoff game."

"I'll try another trial if you detox." You say.

"Oh, so were bargaining now?" He smirks. You squeeze your eyes shut. This may have been a mistake because House always tends to win challenges.

"I want you to meet my mother then." He says. You choke for a minute on your own saliva.

"What?" You ask.

"She's flying in to see me next week, and she'd kill me she didn't get to meet my baby mama." He smirks.

"You told her?" You say. You're surprising yourself with your reactions. A part of you is horrified.

"Cameron practically begged to meet my parents." He says.

"House, this could still all go wrong. We don't know if were keeping this baby yet." You says, but he gives you a look as if to say that you both know the baby is staying.

"I didn't tell her you were pregnant, but she can do math so I figure I should introduce her to my girlfriend so she doesn't think I knocked a stranger up in seven months." He says.

"Fine," You nod. You are kind of curious what his mother is like. You bet she's a straight arrow. Probably wears khaki, has an American flag in her front yard, and knows a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

"Yeah, but I'm not meeting your dad." He says snidely.

"What? Why?" You shoot back. You never even wanted him to meet your dad until he brought it up though. You hate how he can mess with your mind.

"I'm probably his age, you've probably mentioned that your boss is a jerk, and I don't do the whole meet the parents ordeal." He says

"He's going to realize I have a baby eventually, and he's going to be curious about its dad." You say. You actually haven't talked to him about your job though, so he at least has no idea that House can be a jerk. You consider letting House know that, but you figure he'll watch his behavior more closely f he doesn't know.

"He can come to the wedding." House mutters. Your heart stops for a minute.

"Our wedding?" You say slowly. This is all moving way o fast for you.

"I mean one day in the future." He says brushing it off. This situation reminds you of accidentally saying I love you too early in a relationship – only a million times worse.

"I have vacation time that I could use to detox." He says turning the conversation back.

"What?" You ask him for what seems like the millionth time.

"I'd need to take the first week off, but then I'd have a week less when the baby comes." He says. You look at him to make sure he's being serious.

"I think Cuddy would give you all the time you need if you were willing to detox." You say.

"I'm not going to completely detox. I mean I'll just cut back. I'll always be in pain." He sort of thinks out loud.

"You mean like take the actual proper dosage?" You ask. He nods slowly thinking about what he's about to commit to.

"But only if you join another trial." He says taking your hand in his. He rubs the top of our hand with his thumb.

"I guess." You say not really thinking about what you're about to commit to.

"You could maybe see the kid through puberty, I could see him through med school." House jokes about your possibly lengthened lifespans.

"You mean I could see her first dance recital and you could see her graduate med school." You joke back. He shakes his head.

"Are you going to be disappointed if it's a girl?" You ask.

"No, I'd be relieved." He sighs.

"Girls tend to be less resilient and who knows what kind of terrible things we'd teach her." You say. The idea of home schooling her crosses your mind before you realize how far ahead of yourself you're getting.

"I mean I can't exactly teach a boy how to play soccer," House shrugs playing with the blankets.

"You'd be a great dad. Besides you could teach him how to solve a three hundred piece puzzle or pick up the ladies." You joke. He drops the covers and tries to hold back a smile.

"I want one of both." He says putting a hand on your stomach.

"One step at a time," You say.

"Look, you're already getting fat." He says in a sickeningly sweet tone. You purse your lips together; you know he's just trying to piss you off. All this sentimentality is probably freaking him out so he's back in jerk mode.

"I know. I've gained two pounds." You say crossing your arms over your chest. You know he hates it when you get all vain about your appearance. If you do have a daughter he'll have fun taking her through high school, you can't imagine him taking a girl shopping for clothes or make up. You hope to god you'll be around for stuff like that, but you know you probably won't.

"Shut up," He smirks, "can't wait till these puppies blow up. People might you for Cuddy." He says bringing his hands up to your chest. You swat his hands away and laugh. His rudeness always amused you.


	13. Chapter 13

Your eyes are squeezed shut. So tight that it's giving you a headache. You know your probably cutting off the blood flow to House's hand, but you don't want to let go.

"You're going to have to open your eyes to get out of here." House says to you. You don't want to though. You want to curl up into a ball and sit in Dr. Jones office until the test results are back.

"In a few hours we'll know." He says using his other hand to pry your fingers off of his hand.

You loosen your grip but don't let go. You also open your eyes slowly, and follow House out. You head downstairs to his office. Cameron is sitting behind the table laughing with Foreman and Taub.

"Huh," House muses, "I guess we have a patient,"

"Or someone told her about us." You say amazed at how the news of your pregnancy hasn't spread. Apparently Taub, Cuddy, and Foreman can keep a secret. You have nothing against telling Cameron and Chase or even the rest of the hospital, but you didn't want to overshadow their wedding last week.

"Madeline Roth, six years old, hemolytic anemia." Cameron says handing each of you a copy of the file.

"Genetic or acquired?" You ask immediately.

"Acquired." Cameron says.

"Boring," House says handing the file back.

"She's never been given penicillin, no autoimmune diseases." Cameron says handing the file back.

"You've checked for all of them?" House says skeptically.

"All that could cause hemolytic anemia." She smirks.

"Most likely cause then is a toxin." Taub says flipping through the file.

"Fine, Thirteen history. Taub and Foreman check the home for toxins." House orders. You nod and smirk that he doesn't want you around possible toxins.

"Here, I'll take you to her family." Cameron says to you. You nod and follow her out wondering if this is really the best time for you to be working with kids. You could be just hours away from finding out if yours has Huntington's.

"Are you okay, Dr. Hadley?" Cameron asks.

"You can call me Remy." You say not answering her question. You really need to learn to keep your emotions in check. You hadn't even realized your eyes were tearing until she said something.

"You okay, Remy?" she asks this time with a playful smile. You wonder why House never liked her and find yourself feeling a bit jealous of something she never even had. You are being completely irrational and you can tell. Yet, you cant stop yourself from feeling upset.

"My hormones are trying to kill me." You mutter. She gives you a sympathetic smile before stopping in her tracks. Oops, you just spilled the beans. This baby is making you way too open.

Cameron doesn't say anything but she looks at you. You could have meant you were pmsing. She looks you up and down and you pray she just thinks you are bloated. You've only gained a few pounds, but it is fairly noticeable.

"Yeah," is all you say as you stare at the ground. Then you notice tears falling in a small puddle in front of you. Oh god, you're crying. In front of Allison Cameron, in the middle of the hallway.

She wraps her arms around you and gives you a huge smile.

"Congratulations." She says not letting go quite yet. This is a moment that you could never have foreseen happening. Never in a million years did you expect to be hugging Cameron – let alone in public.

"Sorry," you say pulling away and wiping your eyes. This is a bit awkward.

"It's House's isn't it?" she asks with a smile that you're surprised to see. Even though she's married you half expected her to be upset.

"Yeah," you say again.

"He's been fairly nice recently. He remembered a patient's name last week, and he took this case with almost no pushing." She nods, "I'm glad he's happy."

You two continue talking until you reach Madeline's room. You take the history, and head back up to the diagnostics room.

"Foreman and Taub are testing the stuff from the house in the lab." House says to you.

"Is your mom in town yet?" You ask knowing that this is the week. You had hoped you'd get the test results back before your lunch, but apparently not.

"She's going to meet us at the café down the street in a little less than an hour." He nods. You lean into his chest and nod. He wraps an arm around you, and you see a nurse stop dead in her tracks outside of the window. You laugh and pull away from him.

"Scared?" He asks genuinely.

"You have no idea." You say wondering if he's referring to the lunch or the test results. Either way you're nervous about both of them.

"I have a good feeling about today." He says walking over to his calendar.

"Friday the thirteenth." You shake your head.

"Thirteen's a lucky number for me." He says.

"Yeah well." You smile.

"If we ever get married it has to be on a Friday the thirteenth." He says. You snap your head forward. He keeps bringing up marriage like it's the weather.

"Do you want to get married?" you ask him.

"Are you proposing?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I just mean in general. You keep bringing it up." You say.

"I do," He says, "in general."

"I just don't think we need to get married just because we're having a baby." You say, not that you don't want to marry House.

"I know, but you know with or without a baby I feel the same way." He says. You notice how he doesn't say I love you, and a part of you is glad. You think you do love House, but things are going really fast and throwing around the L word would just drive you too crazy. Besides, nothing should be functional in a relationship with House.

House's phone rings. You roll your eyes at the song choice. He flips the phone shut a moment later without saying a word.

"Guess who has snakes?" He says. You shrug.

"Madeline." He says walking towards the nurse's station. You stay frozen in your spot. He did remember her name. Your not surprised he remembered that the file mentioned that she had a lot of cuts and scrapes from playing outside so the bite could easily be masked, but the name thing was almost eerie.

He comes back in a moment later and grabs his jacket.

"She'll be fine by tomorrow, let's go to meet my mommy." He grins.

You nod, and follow him down to his car. You love that he drives the one block to the café.

When you arrive you see an older looking women sitting alone at a large table. She stands up when she spots House so you assume that's his mom. She does look completely normal and is in fact wearing khaki. You can't help but smile.

"Mom, this is Dr. Hadley." He says. You shake her hand.

"Remy." You say.

"Blythe," His mother says. You all sit down just as House's phone goes off again.

"Sorry, I have to take this." He says standing back up. You panic for a moment being left alone with his mother.

"So, you work for Greg?" she asks looking you over. Of course he didn't mention your relationship. He would.

"We're actually dating." You say. She looks taken a back, but quickly smiles. She takes your hand in hers.

"Oh," She laughs, "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that."

"Our baby girl is genetically perfect." House says sitting back down. Your eyes practically bug out of your head. You can't even move you're so relieved. And it's a girl!

"You're pregnant." His mom says as if she knew.

"We're having a baby." House says in voice you've never heard. You try to suck in every detail because you've never seen him beam like this. His mom smiles back at him.

"I suspected," she nods.

"Amazing perception does run in the family." He says proudly.

"I hope she gets it." You smile back.


	14. Chapter 14

"She just moved," You jump up in bed. House does too. He doesn't say anything, but he puts his hand lightly over your stomach. Frowning he pushes up the tank top you sleep in that's growing tight.

"Damn," He shakes his head and moves his hand, "Try to tell me before she moves next time."

"Like I can tell." You shake your head at him and crawl out of bed slowly.

You pull of your shirt, and go to the closet to figure out what you're going to wear today. House rolls across the bed so that he's lying diagonally and taking up as much room as he possibly could.

You try on a tee shirt but it's tight. You look in the mirror. Your stomach isn't big enough to look pregnant yet, you just sort of look like you're gaining weight. Pulling the shirt off you step into the bathroom to weigh yourself.

"I've gained twelve pounds." You yell to House frantically. Maybe you're milking this whole eating for two thing too much.

"Jenny McCarthy gained sixty pounds during her pregnancy." He yells back. You can't help but laugh. He probably picked that up in one of her books. You need to get him to start reading more than just autobiographies.

"Would you still love me if I gained sixty pounds a trimester and never lost any of the baby weight." You ask playfully.

"I'd love all three hundred and seven pounds of you." He says coming into the bathroom. He smiles seeing that you're topless, and takes a look at your stomach. It's just starting to protrude. He looks up and a large grin comes across his face. You shake your head and leave the bathroom.

"Hey," He growls, "I'd love them the most." He jokes.

"Shut up," You say getting embarrassed. Your breasts are at least a full size larger, and House likes to point that out every chance he gets.

"I've gained three pounds." He says exiting the bathroom. You laugh.

"Looks like between the two of us were eating for four." You tease. He shakes his head.

"More like replacing pain killers with chocolate. I took a page out of your book." He says rubbing his stomach.

"My book?" You ask. You aren't a particularly large chocolate eater, and the baby seems to prefer salty.

"Females in general." He says waving a hand at you. You give him a look before deciding to wear a loose summer dress despite the sixty-degree weather.

"We should get you some clothes." He says with a smirk. You shake your head not wanting to face the fact that you will slowly become larger and larger until none of your clothes will fit.

"What else were we going to do today?" He asks.

"Lie in bed," You whine. You rarely get days off that aren't filled with errands and chores so you like to do absolutely nothing when you can.

"Wearing absolutely nothing?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Fine, you're right." You say grabbing a jacket from your closet. He quickly gets dressed too, and you head out.

He pulls up to the mall and double parks behind a van.

"You can't park here." You tell him pushing the button to lock the doors.

"There aren't any spots." He frowns.

"So valet." You say. He grunts and does as you ask.

"You know that's three dollars I could have spent on-"

"One third of a movie? A lotto scratcher?" You say cutting his rant off.

"Porn," he smiles. You shake your head and lead him into a maternity store. You look at him and he stares blankly back at you.

"This feels so wrong." He says picking up a pair of jeans with a large black elastic waist.

"Tell me about it." You say taking them from him.

He starts roaming around the store grabbing everything in his sight and piling it up in your arms.

"Are you kidding?" You say dropping the pile after tripping over the side of a table.

"I know how picky you are." He says. The sales lady is giving him a dirty look.

"Let's get a room." You say picking back up the mound of clothes.

"Okay," He says nodding slowly.

"You can wait outside of it." You say dumping the pile into his arms. The sales lady comes over to open a room for you and House struggles to carry the pile and walk with his cane. He's leaving a trail of shirts across the floor.

You grab a large portion of the clothes and enter the room. As you're putting on the first pair of elastic pants a shirt is thrown over your door and lands at your feet. You open the door.

House looks innocently at you.

"Those are some good looking pants." He says with a smirk. You look down. They are way too big.

"What's the point of trying stuff on if it's for later when I'm fatter?" You ask.

"Okay, stop it with this fat thing. You're pregnant." He says rolling his eyes at you, "and you need stuff to fit now too. It's not like your thighs are going to expand quite the way your stomach will. Get stuff that fits now and will stretch. Worst case scenario we come back for more of this shit when your pregnant-er."

You roll your eyes at him for that comment, "Don't call it shit in front of the sales people" you whisper. He opens his mouth to yell something that will most likely be rude, but you stop him with a quick kiss.

You pull away and he looks dumbfounded so you take the opportunity to go back into the room and try on more clothes.

You've got one a hideous pink dress when something hits you in the head. You pull the clothing item off your face and take a look at what House has chosen now.

You chuckle at the pregnancy teddy.

"Get lost." You mutter loud enough for him to hear you. You hear him laugh back.

You go back to trying things on. When you're finally done you leave the stall, but House isn't there. You look around with a frown.

At least you're not crying. You're hormones would do that to you.

You go up to the counter to pay, and when the lady hands you your bag back you turn around and House is right behind you smirking.


	15. Chapter 15

Ahh, this is it. The final chapter. I can't believe I finished this story. I loved writing it and thanks for all the great reviewers out there.

-E

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I like the name Tabitha." House yawned.

"You want a cat?" You ask making fun of his taste. Tabitha is a horrible name.

"How about Gregoria?" House asks.

"It's way too early for this." You laugh.

"It's your fault we're up." He says shooting you a look. True, well half true, the baby apparently doesn't like to sleep past seven which in turn means House doesn't get to sleep past seven. You two have been early to work everyday for the past two weeks. Cuddy loves it.

"Gregoria is never going to happen. You want our kid to be the one to get teased on the playground?" You say putting on a pair of maternity pants. You feel ridiculous in maternity clothes. It still hasn't really sunk in that you yourself will be giving birth in a few short months.

"Grega?" He asks.

"Remy the second?" You throw back.

"Grace?" he says.

"We're not naming her after you, its bad luck." You answer.

"But we can mane her after you?" He says picking up the same pair of jeans he wore yesterday.

"I was kidding." You say as you snatch the jeans out of his grasp. He sticks out his lower lip and pouts at you.

"She can't very well be named after a her stinky daddy." You say. He makes a face and shakes his head trying to mock you.

"Lulu?" He nods. You laugh.

"We could name him after your dad." You say. He rolls his eyes.

"My birth father's still alive." He says. You roll your eyes back at him. Wilson told you the story of their road trip to House's dad's funeral once a while back. You found the story ridiculous.

"Joanna?" You say not particularly liking the name, but it is the girl version of John.

"No." House says sounding a bit annoyed. You drop the subject, and continue to get ready.

"Have you seen my other earring?" You pop your head out of the bathroom.

"Nope, sorry." He shakes his head. He's waiting on the bed for you to be ready. It's kind of sweet of him to go to work early for you instead of just going back to bed and letting you lie awake bored.

"Here," he says tossing you a black box when you exit the bathroom. You open it expecting to see your other earring inside, but instead it's a ring.

"What is this?" You ask very slowly.

"Not a proposal." Is the first thing that shoots out of his mouth.

"Okay?' You say slowly hoping he'll continue.

"It's just a ring. I want people to know you're mine, and I thought it was about time I bought you some jewelry." He shrugged.

"Like a promise ring?" You ask slipping it on. You smirk – House would know the size of your finger.

"7th grade style, baby." He says.

"I love it," You kiss him on the cheek.

"-and it'll drive the team crazy." He nods happily. You chuckle. They know you're pregnant, but you've avoided letting them know the kid is House's. They'll be furious if they think you're engaged and never told them.

"I'm going to tell them." You say.

"I know." He shrugs sanding up. He grabs his keys and tosses you your jacket. You put it on as you follow him to the car to get to work.

He speeds happily down the empty road – there's one perk to leaving over a full hour earlier - and parks in his spot. Cuddy smiles at you as you walk hand in hand into the hospital with House. You can tell she's thankful for the subtle changes you've instilled in him, and for the happiness he's given to you.

Stepping into the diagnostic office you see Taub has come in early too.

"Trouble with the wife?" House asks as he walks into the office with you. Taub looks up from his coffee mug and cell phone on the table.

"Trouble with the car." Taub makes a face at House, "She had to drop me off on her way to work – two hours before I actually need to be here and three and half hours before you're usually here."

"Well, lucky you. You've caught me and Thirteen sneaking in together." House deadpans. Taub looks up at you startled for a moment. He smiles and rolls his eyes at you as if to say how ridiculous House is, but then his eyes stop at your hand.

"Is that a ring?" He asks.

"Yes," you say dryly. You take a seat and House comes by a moment later and places a cup of decaf in front of you.

"From the baby's daddy?" Taub asks.

"I hope," You joke as you look over at House. He grins amused at your antics.

"-And who might this man be?' Taub asks interested enough to actually put his cell phone back into his pocket from the tabletop.

"Chase, I told you that months ago." House pipes in as he prepares his red mug of coffee. Taub gives you a look and you nod. He gives you a look.

"Chase and Cameron have a pool going, and since Chase isn't betting on himself I'm going to say he's not the daddy." Taub answers.

"Can I get in on that?" House asks before you have time to say that he's the father.

"Sure, Cameron's actually got three hundred on you." Taub says. You almost spit out your coffee from laughing. Cameron's a little cheater. You're going to make her cut you in.

House disappears and you assume he's going to the ER to find Cameron or Surgical to find Chase and place a large bet.

"So who is it? Because I was going to put fifty in Foreman, but I also wasn't sure about the mysterious stranger category." He says.

"Like someone who doesn't work in the hospital or forgotten one night stand?" You ask.

"Like a boyfriend outside of the hospital, one night stand is another option but I didn't think you did that with men." Taub says as if you were talking about the weather and not your sex life.

"Well, that and the whole one night stand's don't usually give out rings." You mumble.

"Well, then Foreman's out fifty." Taub says.

"Great," You say a bit annoyed. That was kind of a jerk bet on his part. In fact, just that category annoys you a bit. But then again you did obviously used to sleep around, and you know its just all the hormones that rile you up. You almost yelled at House for wearing a shirt with a hole in the sleeve the other day. At any other time, you couldn't have cared less. He sort of just took it and changed though.

"I'm baaaaack." House sings as he reenters the office. Foreman is following him and Cameron and Chase have apparently been dragged around too.

"And the winner is-" House says spinning around and pointing at you. You feel your cheeks go red. This is so not how you wanted to announce that you and House are together.

Cameron gives you a grin, and you cover your eyes before saying the name.

"House," You practically yelp. The room goes silent. You peel you hands away from your eyes to see three open jawed doctors, House doing a victory dance and Cameron is counting bills from Chase's pocket. She hands half the stack to House who continues to dance around with his cane.

"Congratulations." Chase mutters somewhat sincerely before exiting with a very happy Cameron.

House dances over to your seat and pulls you up to dance around the office with him.

"How? What? Why?" Foreman mumbles. Taub looks over at Foreman and they share a confused look.

"Come on, I'll buy the celebratory breakfast." House says holding up his wad of money and giving you a quick kiss on the cheek to freak Taub and Foreman out.

You take his hand and walk to the cafeteria with Foreman and Taub following behind. You can see all the questions coming to their minds.

You're glad it's in the open now and that House is in such a great mood. You're happy too. You feel, for the first time in a very long time, like everything will be okay.


End file.
